Indian Car Blog - Carazoo.com

We have already seen the results of the first four Formulas One races and one thing that we are missing the most is one magnificent performance from our very beloved Michael Schumacher.

Michael Schumacher holds majority of the Formula One driver records, including most championships, race victories, fastest laps, pole positions, points scored and most races won in a single season. But you would hardly believe the statistics if you consider his latest F1 performances.

He does not seem to be the invincible driver that he has been in the past. He has won the Formula One Championship for seven times, for God’s sake, and that is not a feat that someone can easily achieve in one lifetime.

Formula One fans all over the world had a difficult time coming to terms with the retirement of Michael Schumacher. It looks like he was having a difficult time too. What else could explain the unplanned and totally unnecessary move to return to a sport that requires the adrenaline rush typical to twenty year olds.

Younger drivers are now finding it so easy to match up (and in most cases beat) his steps. The racing aura that was so much a part of Schumacher seems to have faded post-retirement. Now, his performances are anything but outstanding, and it is fact that has been voiced out (not so directly, though) by his McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.

“It’s just as exciting as racing with any other driver” was Hamilton’s response when asked what it is like to compete against a legend called Michael Schumacher.

Another bitter evidence of Schumacher’s downfall is that his fellow teammate Nico Rosberg, who is 17 years his junior, is driving better than him. And even the Mercedes looks more competitive than it actually is, whereas Schumi makes it look sluggish.

Nico is being so much faster than Schumacher in the qualifying races, placing himself on the first three rows of the grid where the chances of traffic and accidents are lesser.
Nico has shown a good streak in the races too. With the Malaysian GP being an exception, he is placing better in the race or finishing.

Schumacher is a different matter altogether. At the season opener Bahrain GP, he could make himself a place, from seventh in qualifying to sixth at the finish. But, apart from that, there is nothing much to say. In the Australian GP, he took almost ages to overtake Jaime Alguersuari in his modest Toro Rosso only to finish at the tenth position.

Though, we can bail him out for the wheelnut failure which marred his chances at the Malaysian GP, there is no explanation for his lousy performance in the Chinese GP where he finished at the tenth position. “One of those races that you do not want to remember,” Schumacher said later. “Not good for me and not good from me.”

At 41, Schumacher is showing his age or that is what it looks like. His career had rather ended well when he decided to retire from the sport. But his recent performances seem to be ruining the hard earned laurels. Though the four races so far have proved to be disastrous for him, he can try to save his face by doing well in at least a few of the upcoming races.

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After the not-so-exciting season opener at the Bahrain racing circuit, Australian Grand Prix, at the Albert Park, brought the much needed excitement for F1 enthusiasts the world over. Power packed with spins and crashes, rain and dry, wheel-to-wheel action and leapfrog passes, the Australian GP gave its audience a weekend full of fun. It seemed as if the drivers and team managers were in a hurry to prove that the new Red Bull car was much faster than the other cars. On Saturday, Vettel and Webber completed the laps at the Albert Park faster than anyone else and placed their cars at the top of the time sheet, securing the front row – pole and second positions – on the grid.
Jenson Button secured not only his second in a row win at the Australian GP, but also his very first one for team McLaren. Button decided to come in early for slick tyres on the rain washed track and that proved to be fruitful to him. Lewis Hamilton, also from the McLaren team, started 11th and struggled for the second place. But then he was called for a second change of tyres and that nearly swallowed his hopes. He ended up finishing 6th.

Robert Kubica, from the Renault team, finished second, after jumping Felipe Massa in the pits. He held on for his first podium finish since Brazil last year. Vitaly Petrov, from the same team, was running in the top ten, but unfortunately had to retire after his car got stuck in the gravel, post tyre change.

Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, from Ferrari, finished third and fourth respectively. Alonso made a poor start and was later nudged into a spin at the first corner. Massa moved up to the second position but could not hold on to it. He still managed to grab his second podium in a row.

Nico Rosberg, who was considered as an underdog to his fellow team mate, Michael Schumacher, outdid him and finished at the fifth position. Schumi, however, seemed to be struggling throughout the racing and then made a late finish at the tenth position. Definitely not one of the very impressive performance from the racing legend.

While Adrian Sutil suffered a loss of engine power and had to retire on lap nine, fellow team mate from the Force India team, Vitantonio Liuzzi managed well and finished in the points for the second race in a row

Rubens Barrichello kept the Williams team ahead and finished on the eighth position. Nico Hulkenberg’s car was speared by Kobayashi's Sauber at turn six and had to retire at the end of the first lap.

Sebastian Vettel, from the Red Bull team, started from the pole for the second race in a row and failed to make the podium. He later retired due to a brake failure. Mark Webber, who set the fastest lap of the race, finished at the ninth position.

Jaime Alguersuari, from Toro Rosso, finished eleventh. Pedro de la Rosa, from Sauber, finished twelfth. Heikki Kovalainen, from Lotus, finished thirteenth and our very own Karun Chandhok finished at the fourteenth position.

Timo Glock, from the Virgin team, retired after the 15th lap due to a suspension problem. Fellow team mate, Lucas di Grassi retired after the 26th lap with hydraulics failure.

Other racers who retired due to technical problems with their cars are Bruno Senna (after five laps with an hydraulics problem), Jarno Trulli (failed to start due to hydraulics problem), Kamui Kobayashi (crashed on the first lap) and Sebastien Buemi (hit from behind in the first lap melee).

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Padma Award nominee, the fastest Indian, First F1 Indian Driver, Indian racing legend… The list goes on. We are speaking about Narain Karthikeyan, he never seems to stop amazing us. The Fastest Indian Driver has tasted waters in almost all the reputed races of the world, be it National Rally Championship, Formula One or LeMans. Now Narain is all set to become the first Indian to participate as a driver in the reputed NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Narain Karthikeyan has teamed up with Starbeast Motorsports to make history in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway this weekend. The duo has partnered with Wyler Racing and JTG Daugherty Racing to run a partial schedule in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series beginning March 27, 2010.

In this competitive environment, the JTG Daugherty Racing stables will also boast of a driver from Australia, Sprint Cup driver Marcus Ambrose, making this the only garage to have two eastern hemisphere drivers in their NASCAR lineup.

Starbeast Motorsports was founded in 2009 by former open-wheel driver Miguel Abaroa, a native of Mexico, as a racing team that seeks to develop foreign drivers with the intent of introducing NASCAR to markets around the world. Starbeast Motorsports works to position international drivers for opportunities to maximize NASCAR's global growth efforts.

"We have always had a desire to work with drivers to help with their transition into NASCAR," said Stacy Compton as quoted in a news release on wylerracing.com. Compton will serve as a driver/coach to help assist Karthikeyan as he makes the transition from Formula 1 and Le Mans racing to NASCAR.

Jon P. Diamond, president of SafeAuto Insurance said, “SafeAuto is excited to have such an accomplished Formula 1 driver behind the wheel of our race truck. Many of our customers are fans of NASCAR and we are looking forward to being part of taking this sport to an international level.”

SafeAuto will serve as the primary sponsor after signing a multi-year agreement with Wyler Racing in 2009. Karthikeyan will race the No. 60 SafeAuto Chevrolet Silverado in select races.

Wyler Racing has been fielding Toyota Tundras since 2005. The team has three wins with Toyota in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Starbeast Motorsports goal is to race in the Sprint Cup Series in two to three years. The plan is to develop Karthikeyan in the truck and Nationwide Series before making the jump into Sprint Cup.

Karthikeyan had previously tested an ARCA car at Daytona in December 2009. Today at Martinsville was his first test in the #60 Chevy Silverado.

The 31 year old Indian has 22 years of racing experience. Karthikeyan will be honored with the Padma Shri award this April. The Padma Shri is one of the highest awards a civilian can get from the India Government. It is given to Indian citizens to recognize their distinguished contribution in various fields.

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Ferrari has not taken well to the Formula One governing body, the International Automobile Federation’s decision to allow new teams to enter F1 for the 2010 season.

According to a column published on the official Ferrari website, the Italian team has attacked FIA for bringing in struggling newcomers like Campos and US F1 instead of supporting old veterans such as BMW and Toyota, who have both left the sport. After Toyota and BMW withdrew from the F1 championship, in order to cut costs, International Automobile Federation was forced to bring in new players.

Things have not been going too well with the F1 Championship 2010 which has resulted in Ferrari attacking the FIA. Out of the 13 teams which signed up or were induced to sign up for this year’s championship, only eleven have turned up so far. Of the few who have managed to turn up on the tracks for testing, only some of them have been able to do more than a few hundred kilometers. And others who have done more than that have done it at a relatively slower pace.

The column on Ferrari official website blames the current problems of F1 to the former FIA president Max Mosley, who battled it out with established players such as Ferrari last season over his plans to bring in new teams for the upcoming season.

A team official has revealed that Indian driver Karun Chandhok is very close to signing a deal with new Formula One team Campos Meta to race in the upcoming 2010 season. Campos Meta is a new Madrid-based team founded by ex-driver Adrian Campos and financed by Spanish investor Jose Ramon Carabante.

If the deal works out with Campos Meta, Chandhok will become the second Indian F1 driver, after Narain Karthikeyan who represented the Jordan team in 2005.

Michael Schumacher has said that the Mercedes GP Formula1 car may not be the best car on the track and they’ll have to catch up with the stronger teams including McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull. The new season of Formula One starts at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain on March 14.

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Team Lotus F1 on Friday lifted the covers of its new car T127 in London. Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes believes the iconic company's return to Formula One after 16 years can help unlock untapped revenue streams in Asia.

Fernandes, who owns Air Asia airline, unveiled the Malaysian-backed team's car that will start the 2010 championship in Bahrain next month. "Formula One has been really inaccessible and seemed elitist," Fernandes said Friday at the London launch. "It's a fantastic time to come into Formula One because it's not a global sport yet -- you can have tracks all over the world but it really is just a European sport. "And the revenue they are getting is primarily from Europe, North America hasn't worked yet and Asia is a huge potential market. Having Lotus with Malaysian backing will really help to spread the sport in Asia," Fernandes added.

While Lotus' $86 million annual budget will be funded by a partnership between the Malaysian government and a consortium of the country's businessmen, Fernandes is freezing plans to move the team from its car factory in Norfolk, England. Fernandes has revived the Lotus brand, which won 79 F1 races and seven constructors’ titles between 1958 and 1994 before the team collapsed because of money problems.

"It will be great to take Lotus back to where it belongs," said Italian driver Jarno Trulli, who finished eighth last season with Toyota. "We've got a very hard task ahead of us but that's what we are here for." With Trulli and former McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen in the lineup, Lotus is returning as one of four new teams on the grid this season, along with Virgin, Campos Meta and USF1. Trulli and Kovalainen will be at the test sessions from Feb. 17-20 in Jerez, Spain, and at the Catalunya Circuit in Barcelona from Feb. 25-28.

Lotus is just hoping both of its drivers finish the season-opening race at the Bahrain Grand Prix on March after building a car in only two months. "We had to compromise in the design, you can't make things as light as you want to because you just don't have time," said technical director Mike Gascoyne, who has held the same role with Force India, Toyota, Renault and Jordan. "One target we have set ourselves is to be the best of the new teams.

"At the end of the season, we need to be racing the second half of the established teams and maybe nicking some points to build for the year after," he said.

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As per the new reports that we are getting, Bernie Ecclestone and Jose Ramon Carabante have joined forces to rescue the Campos F1 team. Sure a lot of things are actually taking place in the F1 scene.

This deal will reportedly see team partner and president Carabante take over from former Minardi F1 driver and Team Campos F1 owner Adrian Campos and lead the outfit to its Bahrain debut next month, before the German car giant Volkswagen steps in for 2011.

As said the team intends to change its official name from Campos Meta 1 prior to the start of the season.

The Valencia headquarters will remain for now, and the multi million euro debts to Italian car constructor Dallara will be paid.

As, explaining that the touted investment of A1 chief Tony Teixeira never materialised, said former Force India boss Colin Kolles will be team principal.

The newspaper said Bruno Senna's contract as race driver will be honoured, and that the hopeful Serbian outfit Stefan GP will instead need to look to assume USF1's official entry.

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The adage “Born from the Jets” might be the slogan of the recently saved from death Swedish Saab car company, but guess what, the above mentioned adage will be more appropriate for the British car maker Jaguar.

We have a reason for that. Jaguar has been awarded funding from the U.K government to develop a small jet turbine as a range extender for a future hybrid Jaguar luxury car.

In stating the Jaguar luxury car, we mean the newly launched 2011 Jaguar XJ full-sized luxury sedan. This car which could get an extended-range electric model in its portfolio in a couple of years might also provide a platform for the innovative jet-powered range extender.

Yes, we call this innovative as the jet-powered turbine technology though was first developed by Rover Cars which developed JET1, the first-ever jet-powered turbine car, is one of the predecessor companies of Jaguar Land Rover, now owned by India's Tata Motors. So the technology fits the Jaguar cars to the T.

Rover Cars’ JET1 which is currently housed in London’s Science Museum, ran on petrol, diesel or kerosene and sped up to 88 miles per hour. This car also spawned a Le Mans racer developed with BRM Formula One that averaged more than 100 mph and topped out at 142 mph.

The cars that run on turbine technology is smaller, lighter and emits less CO2 which should be a welcome news for the green warriors. The British government awarded $1.8 million in development funds to develop the turbine-based range extender for electric vehicles to a consortium of Jaguar-Land Rover, Bladon Jets, and SR Drives. The highlights of the modern micro-turbine technology is that it saves more than 200 pounds over a petrol engine for onboard power generation to recharge an electric car’s battery pack, while slightly reducing CO2 emissions. The Bladon Jets turbine has just 5 percent of the weight and parts count of a typical four-cylinder engine.

There are a few drawbacks which come imbibed with this technology as it is not so good for direct drive. As Chrysler learned a decade later, when it released 56 prototypes of its elegant Chrysler Turbine coupe for real-world tests by roughly 200 drivers, turbine technology proved too inefficient and expensive for production-car use.

Chrysler's test cars suffered from throttle lag, lack of low-end torque, very high exhaust temperatures, and mediocre fuel economy (17 mpg) from their 97-kilowatt (130-horsepower) turbine engines, which powered the car through a standard automatic transmission.


Turbines also aren't particularly suited to the rapid acceleration cycles of varied driving. Using a turbine as a steady-speed source to generate electric power, on the other hand, lets it operate most efficiently and at close to its maximum output.

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The cloud of doubt on the other driver to race for Renault F1 alongside Robert Kubica has been cleared.

Vitaly Petrov, the 25-year old Russian will be racing for the Renault F1 Team this season alongside Robert Kubica. The trivia fact is next… This 25-year-old will become the first Russian to compete in Formula One when he makes his Grand Prix debut in Bahrain in March.

He joins the Renault F1 Team off the back of a successful GP2 career having finished as the Series runner-up last season. Renault F1 Team Principal, Eric Boullier, said: “This is a very special day for Vitaly and we welcome him into the team. As a rookie, we recognise that Vitaly will have a lot to learn this season, but his performances in GP2 last year were outstanding and confirmed that he is ready to make the step up to Formula One. With Robert alongside him, Vitaly has the perfect role model to learn from and I’m confident he will deliver on the promise he has shown throughout his career.”

Vitaly Petrov said that it is a great opportunity for him and he was really looking forward to working with the team this season. He said “I’ve always dreamed of racing in Formula One and so to make my debut with a top team like Renault is very exciting. The first race is just over a month away so I will make sure I spend as much time as possible with the team over the next few weeks so that I am fully prepared in time for Bahrain.”

The Renault F1 Team took the covers off its 2010 challenger, the R30, today in front of assembled media at the Valencia circuit in Spain. Renault F1 Team driver Robert Kubica was on hand to unveil the car and reveal the exciting new black and yellow livery – the iconic colours made famous by Renault in the 1980s.

After unveiling the R30, Team Principal, Eric Boullier, joined Robert and Vitaly for a photo call in front of the car, along with the team’s Third Driver, Ho-Pin Tung, and Reserve Driver, Jérôme d’Ambrosio. Czech driver Jan Charouz will also be a Reserve Driver for the team this year but was unable to attend the presentation.

With stable aero regulations the R30 is a mixture of evolution and revolution, and is much more svelte and attractive than its predecessor. In particular the rear of the F1 car has been considerably reworked to allow the car to make the most of the ‘double-decker’ diffusers that were first seen last year.

Changes have also been made to the architecture of the chassis to adapt to the refuelling ban, which has required the installation of a much larger fuel tank. Renault F1 says that the R30 should be a competitive, strong and reliable car, and they have opted for an aggressive development strategy throughout the season.

Both Robert and Vitaly were thrilled to see their new car and spoke of their hopes for the season ahead: “The team has been working on the new car for a long time and it’s clear that we are moving in the right direction,” said Robert. “Now we need to maximise the winter tests to keep up this momentum and continue improving the car. Our priority is to make the car easy to drive because the new rules favour cars that are not too sensitive – we need a car that behaves consistently in a wide range of conditions.” Vitaly Petrov added: “The new car looks stunning and the colours remind everybody of Renault’s great history in the sport. I can’t wait to drive the car for the first time and start working with the team.”

The Renault F1 Team will remain in Valencia until Wednesday evening to complete the first pre-season test session.

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Mercedes GP F1 Team which is also known as the new Silver Arrows Formula One works team recently unveiled its new livery at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

Nico Rosberg and seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher along with team management Ross Brawn, Nick Fry and Norbert Haug were introduced to guests with a presentation and press conference.

Over 600 guests, including 200 media representatives and 200 Mercedes-Benz employees, visited the Mercedes-Benz Museum, one of the biggest and most famous car museums in the world, to see the launch of the team and the unveiling of the new Silver Arrows livery. Mercedes-Benz employees from the company’s manufacturing plants in Untertürkheim and Sindelfingen, 100 of whom were invited for their outstanding performances and 100 selected through a popular internal draw, also had the opportunity to take their first look at the new MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team.

The event opened with a welcome speech by Dr. Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars before Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg unveiled the new Silver Arrows livery for the 2010 season on last year’s car. The team’s 2010 car, the MGP W01, will make its track debut at the first Formula One test in Valencia on Monday 1 February, with the 2010 Formula One season starting in Bahrain on 14 March.

The new silver and green livery creates a true marriage between the heritage of the Silver Arrows and the team’s title partner PETRONAS. The legacy of the Silver Arrows goes back to the 1934 Eifel Race when, on the evening before the event, the white paint was sanded off the Mercedes W25 race car to fulfill weight regulations (750kg formula) and the silver colour of the aluminium surface of the car appeared. This season, with the return of the Silver Arrows, the MGP W01 will shine in silver combined with a flow of iridescent silver and green shading. On the nose and other parts of the car, traces of black carbon fibre visible are visible – a reminder of the first Silver Arrow of 1934.

Seven time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher who will be driving for this team said “Finally the 2010 Formula One season is firing up! I have to say that I am totally committed to this new challenge. This season feels like a re-start for me and I am so motivated. We have a very exciting combination at MERCEDES GP PETRONAS. We have a World Champion team in every sense of the word and I cannot wait to get into the car for the first time in Valencia.”

He also added that he is convinced that MERCEDES GP PETRONAS will be in a very good position to fight for the championships this season and said that he will definitely give it a go. Recounting on the nostalgic feeling he said “driving for Mercedes-Benz again is like the closing of a circle for me as I started my racing driver career with the three-pointed star on my helmet. This is another reason why I cannot wait for the competition to get underway.”

The other driver for Mercedes GP Nico Rosberg during the unveiling of the new livery said “You can really feel the successful motorsport history of Mercedes-Benz here at the Museum in Stuttgart and to be part of the new Silver Arrows team and that racing heritage makes me feel extremely proud and motivated. Since joining the team in November, I have spent a lot of time at the factory in Brackley, at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth and here in Stuttgart, which has given me the opportunity to settle in and get to know everyone. I have seen how hard the team is working on the new car and I really can’t wait for the opportunity to drive it for the first time in Valencia next week. I am looking forward to working with everyone at MERCEDES GP PETRONAS and will give it my all to reward their fantastic efforts with good on-track results this season.”

Ross Brawn, the Team Principal of Mercedes GP and the erstwhile owner of the Brawn GP said it was a privilege to be here at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart for the official presentation of the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team. With your first look around the Museum, you realise the fantastic racing heritage of Mercedes-Benz and we hope to be able to contribute to those successes going forward. Our team has been working extremely hard throughout last year and over the winter on the development of the MGP W01 and everyone at the team is looking forward to the start of testing in Valencia next week. We have two excellent drivers in Nico and Michael, who will form one of the most exciting and one of the best partnerships on the grid, and with the support of Mercedes-Benz, Aabar, our new title partner PETRONAS and all of our team partners, everyone is looking forward to the 2010 Formula One season with anticipation.”

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The Formula One season of 2010 is around the corner and the 1st month of the New Year almost is a passé. We have seen, heard and read a lot on F1 in the year 2009, the hits and misses, titles and scandals… F1 certainly has been a good thing for the fans in 2009 with Jenson Button finally emerging out in the top as the World’s Drivers Champion after a close fought fight with rivals for this coveted award.

When we thought that 2009 was almost over, came in the news of the King of F1, Michael Schumacher returning back to the grid, no, not in a customary Red Ferrari F1 car but in all whites, the official colour of the newly formed Mercedes GP F1 team and will be driving the Mercedes Silver Arrows F1 car.

There have been many changes in the teams and drivers in the 2010 F1 season when compared to 2009 F1 season. The drivers have changed their loyalties to different F1 teams; some F1 teams have disappeared and have been replaced with newer ones.

We here give you the list of the teams and their respective drivers participating in the 2010 season of F1.

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will be driving for Team Ferrari F1 this season. Yes Alonso has shifted his loyalties yet again from Renault F1 Team while Massa who was injured in the 2009 F1 season has returned back in the prancing Horse team and will be proving his mettle.

Mercedes who had partnered McLaren and supplied engines for the McLaren Mercedes Team has picked up a major share in the last year’s victorious team Brawn GP to form Mercedes GP where Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher will be doing the driving duties. This is a big year for Schumi as lots of expectations has already started running high on this Seven-time world champion.

Red Bull F1 team which has closely followed Brawn GP last year will be retaining last year’s drivers line up in Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, while McLaren F1 team will have the youngest world drivers champion Lewis Hamilton and last year’s world Drivers Champion Jenson Button performing their driving duties. Sauber F1 team, the remnants of the erstwhile BMW SAUBER F1 Team will have Kobayashi and pedro de la Rosa discharging their driving duties.

Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg will be driving for Williams F1 team this sedason while Force India F1 cars will be chauffeured by Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi. Likewise Sebastian Buemi and Alguersuari will be driving for Team Toro Rosso. Renault F1 which hit a rough patch in 2009 with a string of scandals have for the moment confirmed just Robert Kubica as their driver and they are yet to give heads-up on the other driver.

The new teams apart from Mercedes GP to take part in this year’s Formula One races will be Lotus Malaysia with drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen driving the F1 cars for them. Other teams in the grid will be Virgin Racing driven by Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi. USF1 will feature Pechito Lopez as their driver while Field Goal F1 team has announced Bruno Senna to be their drivers. These two teams along with Renault are expected to come up with more names pretty soon.

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This seems to be a lucky day for us. We have just written a blog on a rare 1925 touring Type 22 Bugatti which was salvaged from Lake Maggiore in Switzerland after 70 long years. Now we have an equally astonishing blog related to Bugatti Veyron.

The black Bugatti Veyron, one of the worlds’s most desired cars and a car that can do a 0-60 mph in mere 2.5 seconds is up for sale. This car is not just any other car but has been previously owned by none other than the 2009 World champion Jenson Button himself. But why is Jenson selling this? Maybe the Veyron feels a bit slow for Benson.

This car has a eight-litre 16 cylinder engine, a top speed of 253mph and only has 1500 miles on the clock. Maybe Jenson was a little too busy concentrating on his F1 winning ways that actually driving it.

Though the ad for this car was posted in the Auto Trader website which read "Two owners, 2nd being a current Formula 1 driver will be authenticated," didn't get too much attention when it was first posted.

But now the "current Formula 1 driver" had been identified as Jenson Button and he has just scooped the F1 title it is thought someone is more likely to come forward with the £899,995 … we only wish it could be us offering £ 5 more than the asking price and take it for £900,000.

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What would you have done if you have loads of money with you and you are the boss of Formula One? Try getting in line to buy a car firm of course.

Yes, that’s exactly what Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone is trying to do. He wants to buy the struggling car firm Saab and breathe life into it. In this process Bernie has tied up with the Luxembourg based investment company Genii Capital to launch a takeover bid.

Ever since the Motown meltdown started, GM in a bid to go leaner and meaner has put their Swedish car brand Saab for sale to try to slash the debts that they are in. Saab is a car brand that has been neglected by the GM and Bernie also is echoing in the same sentiment.

Though a clear picture of Bernie’s involvement in the bid process has not been revealed officially, it is said to at around £ 2.3 billion. Whoa, that’s a huge sum you say. Not a problem if you are the F1 boss.

Genii Capital, who are also tied up with Bernie for this bid and who have invested in Renault’s F1 racing team last month in a statement said that they were aggressively working towards a successful closing of the transaction and clinch the car firm.

But the race for Saab is getting better and better with Dutch car firm Spykar, who also have F1 connections running in to get Saab. Spykar had bought the former Jordan and Midland teams to form their own F1 team before selling the team to Force India at the end of 2007 season. Spykar is also trying aggressively to launching their own winning bid for Saab.

Meanwhile General Motors wants to concentrate on their core brands such as Chevrolet and in this regard GM boss Ed Whitacre has made clear his desire to get rid of Saab. He was quoted saying last week “Just show up with money and you can have it”. GM also has threatened to close Saab if their year-long search for potential buyers proves fruitless.

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The cars that we have seen from Renault until date in India seems to very much in contrast from what the French car maker decided to show at the Auto Expo 2010 held in New Delhi.
Renault, which trying to gain the foothold of the Indian car market with its JV with Mahindra and Mahindra to produce the Logan here in India showed the stunned visitors what it had in its kitty other than the drab looking Logan. Renault displayed the models which it will be launching in India some time in 2010-2011.

The Renault pavilion at the Delhi Auto Expo was abuzz with activity. They showcased cars like the Renault Fluence, legendary Megane, Laguna, Koleos, eco-car Twizy and Formula One car. Need we say more?

Lets talk about Fluence. This is the car which is yet to be launched in India, but this car will mark Renault’s independent entry to the sedan segment in India. This car should make the likes of Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and the Skoda Laura worry for their position here in India for the sheer presence of flowing design and classy looks of the car. The company though did not specify the engine options it would come with or the price.

The other car which attracted a lot of eyeballs towards it was the unique copper red coloured Renault Megane. The interiors of this Megane looked stunning with interiors dine in grey though it carried a simpler tone. This car will be the second offering to India after its entry level sedan Renault Logan.

Renault Laguna was also a hit amongst the visitors to the Renault pavilion. This car carried class from bumper to bumper. This premium sedan could be imported to India via CBU kits. This car competes with Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and VW Passat in the international markets. We hope that the competition is also stretched to the Indian shores.

Other car from Renault that stunned the onlookers was the Koleos which was shining in dark black. This SUV will soon make inroads to the Indian car market to take on other counterparts in the SUV segment.

Also in display was Renault’s eco-friendly Twizy Z.E concept which left the visitors awestruck. This unique looking car was undoubtedly a star of the Renault Pavilion.

But the main attraction in the Renault stand was the 2009 Formula One car and the V6 Megane sports car. The F1 fans were in for a treat when the R8 F1 2009 car that was raced by Nelson Piquet junior was kept as a part of display.

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The legend is back and how? Michael Schumacher is back in the Formula One grid and this time he is racing for Mercedes GP. Remember, about a week back we had written a blog on Schumi’s much anticipated return to F1, now the news is confirmed.

The German ace at the age of 41 is coming back from his retirement to race for Mercedes GP and signed a 3-year deal for $10 million dollars to be on the grid when the new season starts with Bahrain GP on March 14th, 2010.The gritty German legend is already eyeing the championship and is determined to give his 100 per cent to fight for the championship. Schumi started his career as a race driver in Mercedes sports car team when he drove a Mercedes before breaking into F1 with Jordan in 1991.

This 7 time World Drivers Champion made his F1 debut with the Jordan team in Belgian GP in 1991 and had won the championship titles with Benetton and Ferrari before retiring in 2006. It might be recalled that Schumi had planned a comeback with Ferrari earlier this year as a stand-in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, but had to abandon the grand plans due to a freak neck injury caused in a motorcycle accident.

Schumi after his retirement in 2006 had kept himself busy by taking charge as the consultant for Ferrari road cars. Ferrari 458 Italia was the last car to be ever fine-tuned by this German Ace during his stint as a consultant for Ferrari.

Formula One has changed a lot since 2006 after Schumi retired from F1. This time around F1 has become more cost-conscious and Ferrari and Mercedes GP will be the only teams that are fully manufacture-owned teams with BMW, Honda and Toyota thrown in the towels already in F1. Renault F1, a troubled team after crash-gate scandal in Singapore involving Nelson piquet Jr also is due to sell a significant stake in their British-based operation.

Austrian Niki Lauda and France’s Alain Prost are the only two world champions who came back to win the titles in their hay days and Schumi will try emulating them in this outing. Schumi’s comeback will allow 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton, who entered the sport after Schumi’s retirement to measure himself with the German ace.
This year’s F1 grid lineup features the most oddest when Mercedes GP will feature an all-German line up in the F1 grid that also includes Nico Rosberg apart from Schumi the McLaren F1 team will feature an all-English drivers in Lewis Hamilton and 2009 world champion Jenson Button who recently quit the erstwhile Brawn GP, taking the Anglo-German battle for title to a new level. It also will be the battle of generations when Schumi and Lewis Hamilton who is half his age eying for the coveted title. The oldest champion in the F1 grid till now was Argentine Jaun Manuel Fangio who took his fifth title at the age of 46 while oldest driver to win a Grand Prix is Italian Luigi Fagioli in 1951 at the age of 53.

It can be recalled that Mercedes withdrew their stakes in McLaren F1 team to take over the Brawn GP from Ross Brawn to form a new F1 team called Mercedes GP. Ross Brawn was a technical director in Ferrari when Schumi was a driver and world champion in Ferrari and Schumi-Brawn alliance was considered to be the best in the world of F1. All of this is set to return when Ross Brawn takes the charge as a technical director in Mercedes GP with Schumi also in the team as a best driver for the German team. Lets all hope that Schumi renews his winning streak with the new team.

In conclusion, the year 2009 certainly has ended on a high note for F1 with Schumi’s comeback. Come this 2010, it surely is a treat for the F1 fans throughout the world and May the best driver hold on to his title in 2010.

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Petronas has announced that it will be the title sponsor of Mercedes GP!

Isn’t it surprising? Especially, after being widely reported that the national oil company will be ending its involvement in F1 as a team sponsor. The choice of Mercedes GP is also unexpected as now Malaysia has its own team in Lotus F1.

The five-year agreement with Mercedes came after Petronas’ deal with BMW Sauber ended in the just concluded 2009 season. Under this new deal, Petronas will be the title partner to the Silver Arrows works team, which will be officially known as the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team.

The official media statement explains that “this partnership allows related business arrangements with Mercedes that will support Petronas’ international business expansion efforts, particularly in its global lubricant business. The exclusive rights of a title partner and association with the premium, internationally-renowned Mercedes brand will further enhance Petronas and Malaysia’s ongoing global brand positioning efforts. Petronas will also be able to continue to leverage on the extensive international exposure offered by the sport to grow its existing business activities.”

This tie-up also presents Petronas with the opportunity to utilise and leverage on Mercedes’ long motor sport heritage to further supplement its talent development initiatives as part of its contribution towards the development of Malaysia’s motorsports industry, it said.

Petronas will continue to be the title sponsor of the Malaysian Grand Prix, as reported earlier.

The Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team’s race car will make its track debut in its new livery at Valencia on 1 February to start pre-season testing ahead of the 2010 season.

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This is news that we all have been waiting to hear for a long time now. An Indian car manufacturer made F1 car. This dream of countless Indian F1 fans is about to turn into reality if Tata Motors would collaborate with Vijay Mallya’s Force India F1 team to churn out an all-Indian made F1 car.

India’s liquor baron Vijay Mallya, also the chairman of Force India Formula One te¬am, is all set to race against time to make a mark in the upcoming FIA Formula One World Championship which starts in March 2010. Mallya’s Force India is designing next generation Formula One cars to take on competitors.

“Force India, based in Silverstone, UK, is a 'non-resident Indian', but I want to Indianise it and win the motor race soon,” Mallya, chairman of UB Group and Kingfisher Airlines, said. He would invest in this sport and there was “no compromise”, he said. “My dream is to find an Indian Lewis Hamilton,” he said. Lewis Hamilton is the British F1 car racer who also is the youngest winner of the FIA Formula One World Championship in 2008 at 23.

Mallya said the partnership offered his team a fully automated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution to design the team’s next generation race cars.

“Now with access to ‘eka’, India’s fastest super computer ranked fourth in the world with the capability of 133 trillion calculations per second would help improve aerodynamic efficiency of the inherited Spyker racing cars,” he said.

Mallya said the tie up with CRL would give an immediate 200 per cent increase in the CFD processing capability, which would rise to 800 per cent by the end of 2010. “We have integrated our own CFD methods, whi­ch are a critical part of Force India’s car design process, with the CRL facility to allow Force India’s CFD engineers to seamlessly interface between the UK and India effectively,” he said.

After buying the Spyker Formula One team from Spyker Cars NV in October 2007, the “King of Good Times” christened the team as Force India after its debut in 2008. “In the second competition in 2009, we secured one pole, one podium, one fastest lap and were placed ninth in the championship,” Mallya said.

Mallya always had held motor sports in high esteem and says motor racing is his passion, and it is in his blood and wants to meet the aspirations of the next generation of Indians, adding that he would build a big fan following for the sport through merchandising and other activities. India Force has a three-year (2009-2011) technical tie up with McLaren, UK and Mercedes, Germany for gear boxes, hydraulics and engines.

Mallya said 2010 has a line up of 19 motor races around the world till November and competitors were fighting to win the race with a lead of one hundredth of a second.

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Mercedes DTM frontrunner Paul di Resta and American JR Hildebrand will drive for Force India in Formula One’s upcoming young driver test at Jerez that will go on from 1st to 3rd December.

The Scottish race car driver is highly esteemed by Mercedes and was linked to a race seat with Force India team last January, before the team chose to stick with Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil for 2009.

The 23-year-old Scot finished third in this year’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) and tested for McLaren at the end of last year.

Paul di Resta says he is excited to get back in an F1 car again and that he hoped it could lead to a more permanent position within Force India.

Formula One has always been di Resta’s dream and the opportunity with Force India will take him a step closer to make his dream come true.

Indy Lights champion John R. Hildebrand Jr will join di Resta to share the solitary VJM02. Hildebrand is also expected to get a full day’s running as the two drivers alternate between morning and afternoon on the first two days.


The twenty-one year old Californian is ecstatic to have his taste of F1. For the 2009 season Hildebrand signed with defending championship winning team AGR-AFS Racingand after winning four races and taking five pole positions, he eventually claimed the title at the penultimate round at Chicagoland. He also competed in the final round of the A1 Grand Prix series for A1 Team USA at Brand Hatch, finishing 4th in the Sprint race in 2009.

Vijay Mallya’s Formula One Team Force India is yet to confirm its driver line-up for 2010.

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A couple of weeks back we brought you the news of Toyota quitting F1. Though the car giant detached itself from Formula One racing, it wants to keep its stint at F1 fresh in its memory and carry the memories further. Toyota wants to keep its 2010 F1 car design to itself.

Toyota has turned down all offers to sell its 2010 Formula One challenger design. This might sound strange to all the motor sports fans out there. And the only valid reason that we all think is that Toyota might be planning a comeback in the F1 scene later in future.

The Lotus F1 team, which has got its first driver, is said to have made an attempt to buy Toyota’s 2010 F1 car design. The rumour mill says the Malaysian outfit has been making several enquiries over the Toyota TF109 car in the past few days. But Toyota rejects such enquiry.

Late last week, Lotus F1 Team announced their new partnership with Aerolab for the construction of their 2010 challenger. Aerolab previously worked with Toyota and Force India for the building of F1 machineries.

The new Malaysian-backed Lotus Formula One is one of five new teams due to make their debuts in 2010, with Toyota and BMW bowing out.

Lotus still has to pass the official crash tests from Formula One's world-governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA). Under the FIA's strict rules on safety, all cars must comply with mandatory crash tests before being allowed to compete in Formula One.

Once the global economic condition improves, we can only expect Toyota to make a comeback. F1 fans, keep your fingers crossed!

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Mercedes-Benz certainly seems to know how to bet on the winning horse. Mercedes have bought a 75.1 percent share in Brawn GP while it sold their 40 percent holdings in McLaren, Brawn's Web site announced on Monday. The current Brawn shareholders retain a 24.9 percent stake in the team.

The move means that Brawn will be branded as Mercedes Grand Prix for 2010, whilst the company will still supply engines to McLaren and Force India.

Nico Rosberg is expected to be confirmed as a Mercedes driver soon, but there is now much wider discussion on whom world champion Jenson Button will be driving for, with many believing that McLaren is the more favourable option.

With two places available between the teams (Rosberg seems a certainty), the drivers linked with the lucrative seats currently include Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock. There is also the outside possibility that Heikki Kovalainen will remain at McLaren.

Button's current issue with Brawn/Mercedes is his salary, as discussions seem to have stagnated. However, some believe that McLaren is the more likely to be competitive in 2010, which could also be a factor in Button's decision.

Kimi Raikkonen will only be in Formula One if he can secure a drive that gives him a car capable of winning. But in return for his services, he wants an awful lot of money, which has put McLaren off signing him straight away.

Timo Glock and Nick Heidfeld's nationality could help them in securing a Mercedes drive, although Heidfeld has also been linked to McLaren. Both have seen their former employers leave the sport and are currently without a drive for 2010.

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India will finally have its own F1 track, a full-fledged one in that. India is all set to host its first F1 Grand Prix in 2011 and here in CARAZOO. COM, we provide you with the first glimpse of the track where the race will take place.

The circuit in the Jaypee Greens Sports City bears the usual hallmarks of a Hermann Tilke-designed track. But from this first impression it seems to have some of the open, flowing corners that many modern tracks often lack.

It looks like a circuit in two halves, with several slow corners before and after the main start/finish straight. These are surely intended to increase opportunities for overtaking, something F1 car designers have been demanding recently.

But the other half of the track includes several longer-radius corners and some quick-looking bends. It is quite impossible to get any sense of gradient from this flat map, however.

It is an unusually short track which is slightly less than 5 km (3.1 miles). That would make it shorter than any track on this year’s calendar with an exception of Circuit de Catalunya, Hungaroring, Interlagos and Monte-Carlo.

The circuit is being built by JP Associates which is a part of a large industrial conglomerate called the Jaypee Group. The circuit is being built alongside the Yamuna Expressway, a new road being built to connect India’s capital New Delhi with the country’s biggest tourist destination, the Taj Mahal, in the city of Agra.

The road to the Indian Grand Prix has not been completely smooth. The race was originally slated for the 2010 F1 calendar but Bernie Ecclestone, the big boss of F1, confirmed it had been moved back to 2011.

In August this year the government’s sports minister M S Gill refused to support race promoter JPSK’s request for money to hold the race, claiming F1 is not a sport. Ecclestone dismissed the minister’s comments saying: “That’s his view. The rest of the world thinks it is a sport.”

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Jenson Button became the F1 World Drivers’ Champion on Sunday.

Button made the race of his life by overtaking from fourteenth to a fifth-place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

After winning the six of the first seven races, Jenson Button, lead driver for the Brawn GP team, had a string of bad finishes; while his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, scored well in every race. Fans and experts alike began to ask if Button’s early wins were due merely the Brawn’s technological edge; many pointed to his uneven performances throughout his ten-year career.

As he crossed the finish line, the British speed king broke into an impromptu chorus of “We Are the Champions,” pumping his arms in the air. As soon as he parked his car, he ran to his crew to thank them.

After qualifying terribly in Interlagos, Button’s hopes for clinching the championship in Brazil seemed slight, particularly since Barrichello put his Brawn on the pole. But Jenson Button was not waiting for luck or fate to assist him! Button jumped ahead from the start, battling past everyone in his way, earning the title through effort and skill.

The 29-year-old Button is the 10th British driver to claim motor racing's greatest prize, inheriting the crown from Lewis Hamilton.

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The Brazilian Grand Prix is around the corner and the Force India Formula One Team is looking forward to this event. The team is depressed after the disappointing Japanese Grand Prix in which Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi could finish just out of the points.

The Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo is ‘a low to medium’ downforce track, where the Force India F1 team hopes to capitalise on the strong performance of the VJM02 on this circuit configuration and add to its World Championship points' total.

The BMW teams are 11 points ahead of Force India in the constructors' championship. Hence, Vitantonio "Tonio" Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil should push hard in the Brazilian Grand Prix for some points to beat BMW. The drivers of the team are pretty optimistic about the upcoming Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Japanese Grand Prix was Adrian's 50th Grand Prix. He made his debut at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix. Till date, he has scored six points, secured one fastest lap (Italy 2009) and has started on the front row once (Italy 2009).

While Tonio Liuzzi has raced in two Brazilian Grands Prix, finishing 16th in 2006 and 13th in 2007.

The Brazilian Grand Prix going to be an exciting race and we are looking forward to another race where we believe the VJM02 should perform well.

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The scenario surrounding F1 racing is quite grim. Last year, Honda abandoned F1 and soon BMW withdrew itself from Formula One with Mercedes-Benz also following suit.And now we have news that Toyota may too say “Sayonara” to Formula One racing.

Toyota’s Formula 1 team principal Tadashi Yamashima warned that the world’s largest car manufacturer’s involvement in F1 could come to an end soon. The reason behind is the result of steep decline in car sales.

This information must have broken the hearts of many F1 lovers. Especially, after the Toyota F1 team finished in the second place in the Singapore Grand Prix and the F1 race in Japan is scheduled over the coming weekend.

The world’s number one car maker Toyota is not doing good business because of the Motown slump. Toyota is likely to cut production by almost 10 per cent in order to minimise losses due to falling demand. Moreover, the Japanese car behemoth is pulling out of a joint venture business with GM in America.

It has happened for the first time that Toyota has planned to cut production to such an extent and it shows how badly it is faring in the current economic climate. Sales of Toyota in America have fallen by 34 per cent this year. Its luxury brand, Lexus, has been badly hit. In August Toyota forecast a net loss for 2009 of £3 billion, which is less than it feared but still unprecedented for the company.

Another threat to all the car companies is the end of Government sponsored car scrappage schemes in many key markets including the US, UK and Germany. These have prevented a total wash-out in the automotive sector during 2009, but are set to end in many countries in the coming months.

Although the company has signed up to the Concorde Agreement, it faces no financial penalty for walking away from Formula 1. It has some obligations, but nothing significant enough to prevent a walk-out if the business case for it was clear.

The team has yet to set a budget for the 2010 season and will not do so until mid November, by which time many drivers will already have signed up for other teams. With Williams set to switch its engine supply deal to Renault, the company has no customers for engines in the paddock.

Toyota has already informed both of its drivers that they are free to look for drives elsewhere.

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The Force India Formula One Team is happy to have a new driver after Giancarlo Fisichella moved to the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team alongside Kimi Räikkönen.

Fisichella logged Force India's first point in the Belgium Grand Prix.

The 28 year old Vitantonio Liuzzi will make his Formula One comeback in next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. He will assume his driving duties of car number 21. Liuzzi has been able to realize the team’s crucial test, reserve driver and development role from the start of the 2008 season.

Vitantonio Liuzzi aka Tonio is delighted to get back into the race car particularly at his home Grand Prix in Monza. Tonio is an ex-Red Bull and Toro Rosso driver and current reserve for the Silverstone team.

Liuzzi steps up to Force India's race team alongside Adrian Sutil to compete in F1 for the first time since the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix. This is a direct result of Felipe Massa getting injured and Ferrari having to replace test driver Luca Badoer with Giancarlo Fisichella.

Vitantonio Liuzzi made his F1 debut at the San Marino Grand Prix with Red Bull Racing in 2005. He scored a point on this debut although he competed in just three more races that year before making a permanent switch to Toro Rosso in 2006, where he remained for the 2007 season. He has contested 39 Grand Prix and achieved a career-best result of sixth in the rain-lashed 2007 Chinese Grand Prix.

Force India is now in a very competitive position and it needs a driver who can continue this momentum.

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The Caparo T1 is a British mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-seat car manufactured by Caparo Vehicle Technologies. The car is designed by a group of ex-F1 engineers. The car was designed to prove the world that the speed of a F1 car could also be felt in a road legal car.

The T1 comes with a 3.5L V8 supercharged engine that can deliver a maximum power of 575 bhp. The engine has been reported to successfully reach 700 bhp of power on methanol fuel. The engine is controlled via a fully tunable Pectel SQ6 engine control unit and the throttle is controlled via a throttle-by-wire system. The T1's gearbox is a 6-speed sequential made of a magnesium and carbon construction that has a variety of available gear ratios and utilizes a pneumatic actuator to shift.



The Caparo T1 has a top speed of 330 km/h. It can accelerate from 0–100 km in less than 2.5 seconds. The car is low on fuel consumption, showing an excellent mileage of 21 km/l.

The exterior of the T1 is similar to a Formula One racing car. The body is made of carbon fibre with aerodynamic low drag body design. It is composed of individual sections, with an adjustable twin element front wing, single element rear wing, and fowler flaps and a ground effect diffuser. The wings are replaceable with road and track variations. There is the option to fit a tow bar and off road tyres which make it a useful day to day car.

The interior of the T1 lacks any amenities and luxuries to reduce excess weight. The passenger's seat is set back from the driver's seat slightly, allowing the seats to be placed closer together, thereby reducing the overall width of the T1.

A head protection system is placed, a six-point harnesses for the driver and passenger, compatible with a HANS device. The car is designed with a central safety cell made of a high-strength steel roll hoop with a fire system. The dashboard is multi-function with race data logging and speed sensors for traction control as well as the launch control.

On top of all these, the car has an Indian connection. The car company, Caparo is owned by an Indian, Angad Paul. The T1 is a fusion of western technology and eastern ingenuity.

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The Force India fresh from its win yesterday in the Belgium Grand Prix, courtesy Giancarlo Fisichella who secured a well-earned second place in the race just behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen got its much-needed boost for the car to evolve from an underdog team to a much professional-team.

Force India cars have evolved through the years since it was taken over by the Midland group from Eddie Jordan, who was the owner of the Jordan F1 team. The Jordan team owned by Eddie Jordan was named after him. Jordan F1 was active from 1991-2005 during which it was a Formula One Constructor. Eddie had to sell his team later in 2005 to a Russo-Canadian team called Midland Group which was renamed as Midland F1 racing in 2006 and raced their cars in Formula One.

Later the team exchanged hands again when Midland Group sold their Midland F1 racing team to Spyker cars for $106.6 million. Spyker cars renamed the team as Spyker MF1Team in 2006 September and went on again to change the name of the team as Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team. Etihad (Airways) and Aldar (Real Estate Developers) corporates were the main sponsors for the team, from the oil-rich Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

This is when the team scored its first championship point in the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix when the then driver Adrian Sutil finished 9th on the track, but was promoted to 8th place and into the points-scoring position when stewards ruled, post-race, that Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi had overtaken Sutil under a yellow flag on lap 55; Liuzzi was subsequently given a 25-second penalty that dropped his time below Sutil's.

Spyker Cars announced in August 2007 that it would have to sell all or part of the team due to a potential split of the team from its parent company and that’s when Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya and Dutch entrepreneur, Michiel Mol pitched in and became the new owners of the Spyker F1 team and the name henceforth was changed again to “Orange India”.

Orange India’s cars were named as VJM01 in 2008 and basically had a B-chassis of the 2007 Spyker Car. Vijay Mallya again officially renamed the company as “Force India” for the 2008 F1 season.

Even though Vijay Mallya put Mike Gascoyne, one of the best in the business to work on the car, it wasn’t enough as Sutil finished the season with most DNFs from all F1 drivers. The team than saw a radical change in terms of managerial and technicality in the early part of 2009 and switched power train suppliers, from Ferrari to McLaren for a new engine, gearbox, KERS unit and hydraulic system.

In the year 2009, a new car named VJM02 came into being which marks a complete change in design philosophy, not only due to the major F1 regulation changes. This car, in spite of its short development cycle, displayed several interesting bits during the first tests.

The sidepods were shaped as tightly as possible, while most other teams tried to make the surface as smooth as they could. The front of the car draws immediate attention because of its high nose, which infact is the highest of the 2009 field.

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We all know that Formula One is a sport, a motor sports and the best one in that. But Indian Government begs to differ and strongly says that Formula One is not a sport. This is blasphemy at its worst. Right? We all agree with your sentiments.

Well, Formula One is the highest form of motor racing. The “Formula” in the term stands for a set of rules to which all participants and cars must comply. Formula One is a massive television event as well, with a global audience of 600 million people per race. This is the world’s most expensive sport. It has a substantial effect on the economy and there has been a never-ending fight inside F1’s governing bodies.

The Indian Government has put forward its outdated views on the motor sports recently. The Indian Government has turned down a request by Formula 1 promoters to get approval for remittances of $36.5 million to host an F1 race in the country on the ground that it is not a sport. The ministry has dismissed Formula One racing as mere entertainment rather than a sport which is not worthy to be funded.

This view has bewildered all the motor sports fans and bodies around the globe.
Besides, the Ministry also remarked that the Formula One racing does not fulfill the conditions that focus on human endeavour for excelling in competition with others.

This is simply ridiculous because Formula 1 drivers have to endure extreme physical and mental pressure while racing. Here, man and machine has to unite into one to push the body and the car to the limit and beyond and has to come out unhurt. This is what makes Formula One incredible and marvelous compared to other sports on earth.

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All the excitement and the dust encompassing Sunday’s European Grand Prix in Valencia have just settled down. But seems the rumour mills are working overtime to churn out the best quality gossips that we haven’t heard in Formula One Racing for quite some time now.

Well, According to the stories that have been flying after Sunday’s Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso is likely to say au revoir to Renault and will join hands with Ferrari for the year 2010.

Fernando Alonso of Renault came in the sixth place in yesterday’s European Grand Prix held at Valencia in Spain.

This rumour still has not been confirmed and will remain unofficial as Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are still under contract with Scuderia Ferrari. Once the contract is over, we are likely to get the official confirmation of this news.

Ferrari has denied having talks with Fernando Alonso. But the shifting of team is a possibility at a situation surrounding Massa’s injuries and Kimi Raikkonen’s growing interest in driving rally cars as well as the rather slow and desultory performance of Luca Badoer in yesterday’s European Grand Prix. Moreover, in the world of Formula One racing, anything can happen and Ferrari is not afraid to shake things up in and around Formula One.

So guys if the rumour turns out to be true, get ready to see Fernando Alonso with those red jumpsuit-wearing boys from Ferrari next year.

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Team Ferrari F1 seems to have got the solution to the problem it has been prodding for over a month a now. Ferrari has confirmed that Felipe Massa will be replaced by Luca Badoer for the upcoming European Grand Prix, pulling down the curtains on the most debated issue in the F1 circles of late.

Ferrari has been in distress since Felipe Massa was injured in Hungarian Grand Prix on July 25, 2009 and soon after that it was speculated that Massa would be replaced by the legendary, seven-time world champion Micheal Schumacher.

Schumi who had been recalled for the event by Ferrari soon forced to back out and call off his participation at the Formula One racing because he was haunted by the neck injuries he sustained during a motorcycle race earlier in the year.

Now Ferrari left with no other options, has zeroed on Luca Badoer to replace the injured Felipe Massa at the upcoming European Grand Prix at Valencia. Ferrari has promoted its test driver Badoer to the race position for the next race in Valencia, as a reward for his many years of efforts with the team.

Luca Badoer has been a Ferrari test and reserve driver since 1998 and last raced in 1999 for Minardi. Luca Di Montezemolo has named the 38-year-old Italian to race for the Scuderia.

Luca Badoer is Ferrari's longest ever serving test driver. He holds a distinction of being the only driver who has competed in the 48 Grand Prix without scoring a single point. He was about to achieve his first points finish in the 1999 European Grand Prix, but the gearbox on his Minardi failed with only thirteen laps to go.

Unable to find a satisfactory race seat in Formula One after 1999, Badoer became a permanent test driver for Ferrari. He covers thousands of kilometres at the Mugello and Fiorano test circuits each year and has probably driven more kilometres in a Ferrari Formula One car than any other Italian in history.

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